E-bikes under fire as fatalities climb in NYC

[mclewis1]

That exists in Japan at least:

Other places too, and normally I would have only expected to see them in town. A few days ago on a back country road about 90 minutes out of town (where I would normally expect to only see somewhat serious riders) coming the other direction was an e-unicycle. A small wave of recognition in passing and I had to then give myself a shake and ask ... "did I really see that?" Clearly my expectations about where folks would ride an e-unicycle were very wrong.

Next up, I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see an e-scooter on the road in the middle of nowhere either (although I'm not sure it would be legal to do so).

The proliferation of technology (compact and efficient batteries and motors) means the potential for all sorts of vehicles on (and just off) the road. With the rapid pace of change driven by that technology I sure don't envy those drafting regulations and providing enforcement ... although I would love to see a LEO with an e-unicycle pulled over on the side of the road, it would make a great (and funny) picture.

 

[tomdutchie]

That exists in Japan at least:

isn't this more of a (slimmed-down version of) segway than a unicycle?

 

[Ebiker01]

the Tesla Supercharger network and the Giga Factory.

If there is one company that can show how to put an end forever to this very unfortunate accidents due to humans , that is Tesla with the Autopilot software . It will take a few more years but then once it's implemented (self driving as the only way to drive a vehicle) and adopted as a law for all vehicles , roads will be a lot safer.

It would be Interesting to have an analysis of how many accidents were between Tesla cars and cyclist or pedestrians. I bet that once we get the average of issues and compared to regular cars incidents the Tesla will be vastly superior safer already !!


Either that or a mandatory neural chip (able to avoid and improve driving) for all drivers , activated once they start a vehicle.
© 2021 Ebiker01

Whatever the outcome will be , only technology can put a stop to this negative events on the roads.

 

[rawlus]

If there is one company that can show how to put an end forever to this very unfortunate accidents due to humans , that is Tesla with the Autopilot software . It will take a few more years but then once it's implemented (self driving as the only way to drive a vehicle) and adopted as a law for all vehicles , roads will be a lot safer.

It would be Interesting to have an analysis of how many accidents were between Tesla cars and cyclist or pedestrians. I bet that once we get the average of issues and compared to regular cars incidents the Tesla will be vastly superior safer already !!


Either that or a mandatory neural chip (able to avoid and improve driving) for all drivers , activated once they start a vehicle.
© 2021 Ebiker01

Whatever the outcome will be , only technology can put a stop to this negative events on the roads.

eh, i’m not sure i’m ready to trade liberty to a software algorithm 100% even if it does save lives. life itself is a risk…. living without any risk is not really living imo… i’d prefer to be involved in my own risk assessments rather than society or tech or govt making those decisions on my behalf….

 

[Dallant]

eh, i’m not sure i’m ready to trade liberty to a software algorithm 100% even if it does save lives. life itself is a risk…. living without any risk is not really living imo… i’d prefer to be involved in my own risk assessments rather than society or tech or govt making those decisions on my behalf….

Soylent Green!
Risk level is generally something you can choose for yourself, hopefully not for others.

 

[tomdutchie]

eh, i’m not sure i’m ready to trade liberty to a software algorithm 100% even if it does save lives. life itself is a risk…. living without any risk is not really living imo… i’d prefer to be involved in my own risk assessments rather than society or tech or govt making those decisions on my behalf….

Now liberty is extended to keeping everybody safe? I really don't care if you want to risk your life, but I rather not want my (or anybody else's) life to be taken because you are not paying attention to traffic. Algorithm? It's just a camera with some extra software that is looking out for you and others on the road, it's less scary [and more open for investigation] than the algorithm that is getting the landing page of your facebook/youtube.

 

[rawlus]

Now liberty is extended to keeping everybody safe? I really don't care if you want to risk your life, but I rather not want my (or anybody else's) life to be taken because you are not paying attention to traffic. Algorithm? It's just a camera with some extra software that is looking out for you and others on the road, it's less scary [and more open for investigation] than the algorithm that is getting the landing page of your facebook/youtube.

i’m not asking you to do what i want. just to let me do what i want. you can make your own risk assessment for you and the fam, but mandating that i cannot make my own decisions on how to ride the bike just so you can feel safer is not going to happen.

we cannot drive, we can only be driven by AI
we cannot ride, we can only be along for the ride by AI
we cannot walk, we can only be carried by AI

doesnt really sound all that fun to me. i’m not an adrenaline junkie, but i do like my share of enjoyment out of life…ppl passing laws now not about crimes but against fears…. laws made solely to make you less afraid feels like an ethical, moral and social problem.

 

[ActionJackson]

If there is one company that can show how to put an end forever to this very unfortunate accidents due to humans , that is Tesla with the Autopilot software .

Well the Feds don’t think so. The Japanese either (that feature doesn’t exist here - but similar features exist in other brands like BMW, Benz, and domestics). They’re using American roads as an experiment.

Feds Probe Tesla Over 10 Fatal Crashes Involving Autopilot; Fontana Had One

Autopilot, which handles some driving tasks, was operating in at least three Tesla vehicles involved in fatal U.S. crashes since 2016, the National Transportation Safety Board has said.

timesofsandiego.com

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Well the Feds don’t think so. The Japanese either (that feature doesn’t exist here - but similar features exist in other brands like BMW, Benz, and domestics). They’re using American roads as an experiment.

Feds Probe Tesla Over 10 Fatal Crashes Involving Autopilot; Fontana Had One

Autopilot, which handles some driving tasks, was operating in at least three Tesla vehicles involved in fatal U.S. crashes since 2016, the National Transportation Safety Board has said.

timesofsandiego.com

Whatever you think of Tesla, they very probably are on the right track to own autonomous vehicle technology. Chances are everybody will be licensing Tesla's tech for this in the years ahead.

The key problem with building a system like that is how you curate the enormous (think petabytes) datasets to properly train them. Reading between the lines on what they are doing with their existing fleet it becomes pretty obvious they are on track to build those humungous datasets, and better yet to curate them with the data which will let their systems learn faster as well.

Waymo is probably a very distant second in this area, Apple is a blip on the horizon, and the traditional automakers may as well be trying to solve this problem with vacuum tubes.

In general on AI problems once someone has cracked the nut on how to build a great training dataset it is hard for anyone to ever catch up. The holy grail of such systems is to generate representative and properly labeled training data as you use the system, which is never as easy as it looks, and it never looks easy.

 

[ActionJackson]

Chances are everybody will be licensing Tesla's tech for this in the years ahead.

You’re drinking the TSLA KoolAid…maybe in America where we’ve been behind in vehicle and transportation technology by decades. Other countries like Japan and Germany already have such systems approved and running. And I’m not talking something where the driver can take a break and read the newspaper - in Japan the systems have no driver. They are already deploying self driving buses around in limited routes for the Olympics. My BMW has hands free limited autonomy already, even five years ago my previous car could park itself.

America has lead the way in fly by wire and smart flight control systems for aircraft though - the F-22 is an amazing demonstration of augmented controls!

 

[kmccune]

My son no longer rides motorcycles but when he did he wore a flat black helmet and no high viz clothing. A popular look. I'm not so particular about how I look and chose white and high viz yellow helmet and clothing. I don't ride a motorcycle anymore (much), it is just too inherently unsafe no matter what the colors.

Court , the "reviewer" likes white bicycles for visibility reasons.There is one area where "white" is not right, against a skyline in various light conditions, "Torch","High vis orange", Neon colors, etc are the thing, there is a caveat to that reasoning though, viewed against a similar background even these colors do not stand out. You will never see Me on a recumbent bike, the little strobes some cyclists use are probably one of the best things.

 

[ActionJackson]

there is a caveat to that reasoning though, viewed against a similar background even these colors do not stand out.

Be careful - some states will construe that as grounds to make everyone wear on their clothing

 

[PedalUma]

AI needs to learn to go with the flow like everyone else and not freeze up.

 

[Ebiker01]

And I’m not talking something where the driver can take a break and read the newspaper - in Japan the systems have no driver. They are already deploying self driving buses around in limited routes for the Olympics. My BMW has hands free limited autonomy already, even five years ago my previous car could park itself.

Those are for predefined routes , also some have a driver ready on stand by .

The Beemers r obsolete, that fugly big grill screams history.
Try to order yours (that's parked in the lot 500feet away )to pick u up from the entrance of the mall. Can not ?? Sorry a Tesla could do that 2 years ago.... Gotta respect the top engineers who made it happen !

 

[Ebiker01]

eh, i’m not sure i’m ready to trade liberty to a software algorithm 100% even if it does save lives. life itself is a risk…. living without any risk is not really living imo… i’d prefer to be involved in my own risk assessments rather than society or tech or govt making those decisions on my behalf….

As far as driving, it's 100% guaranteed that only technology+innovation+common sense applied to a future AI chip on all cars can make bike/moto riding 100% safe and above all 1000% safer then human drivers.

For others risks it is worth the risk of not depending on tech. alltough that is somehow limited b/c most likely you and all of us, we do use our smartphones or internet for risk assessment , checking weather, news, etc...

 

[Art Deco]

I don't have experience with either self drive technology yet, but from what I've read I'd rather that an AI do all the high speed driving. If humans drive under 25 mph , all the better. I've seen how humans drive.

 

[rawlus]

essentially, what you want, is for everyone to do what you want.… man, i get it, lol.
for me thats sort of the opposite of freedom, so i don’t want that, i want people to do whatever makes them happy so long as it’s not harming anyone else…. you want AI, go for it. I don’t want it. you do you as they say.

 

[ActionJackson]

Try to order yours (that's parked in the lot 500feet away )to pick u up from the entrance of the mall.

I have no need to hang out at “the mall” and generally use valet or machine parking anyway. Not that a Tesla in Japan could drive itself in a parking “lot”. Maybe it’s your income or infrastructure that needs upgrading where you’re located?

 

[Ebiker01]

I have no need to hang out at “the mall” and generally use valet or machine parking anyway. Not that a Tesla in Japan could drive itself in a parking “lot”. Maybe it’s your income or infrastructure that needs upgrading where you’re located?

Thx for going around my reply with useless words. In other words your car can not do what i had mentioned earlier.

 

[Ebiker01]

essentially, what you want, is for everyone to do what you want.… man, i get it, lol.
for me thats sort of the opposite of freedom, so i don’t want that, i want people to do whatever makes them happy so long as it’s not harming anyone else…. you want AI, go for it. I don’t want it. you do you as they say.

I fully agree with your Pov , but it is an Utopia for US (the country). It could work if our society culture (Referring mostly to drivers respect of bikers/pedestrians/motos ) was as it is in Denmark/Holland/Japan/S. Korea/Singapore and there are many other places like that in the world.

Given the challenging times and events involving biking on the populated roads
here , that positive thinking will not work to keep people on bicycles/scooters safe on the roads.